Feds give state authority of Astoria clean-up project

Oregon state environmental regulators will investigate contaminated soil, groundwater and sediments at the Astoria Marine Construction Company near the coast and supervise clean-up activities.

Oregon Department of Environmental Quality officials signed an agreement with their counterparts at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency this week to allow the state agency to oversee the clean-up project.

Astoria Marine Construction has been refurbishing ships since 1926. As a result, federal EPA investigators say the soil, groundwater and sediments near the Lewis and Clark River and Jeffers Slough are contaminated with petroleum, heavy metals, polyaromatic hydrocarbons and organotins.

The Lewis and Clark River and the Columbia River provide critical habitat and migration routes for a variety of fish species, according to federal officials.

The site was proposed for the EPA’s list of most-contaminated sites in the country last year as part of the Superfund National Priorities List. Being on the list would ordinarily have resulted in EPA officials stepping in. However, the agreement signed this week hands the responsibility to Oregon DEQ.

EPA officials said they agreed to let Oregon DEQ handle the project because Astoria Marine Construction executives have enough insurance to cover the investigation and clean-up.